[ADXA] ARRL Digital Contest

[WB5JJJ]

Joel, it's apparently worse than what I experienced, if some of the online
chats are based in fact.  A confusing mess for sure.  Some guys were
switching back and forth from NA VHF to normal FTx operation just to get a
guy off their back and stop calling.

I ran it for a couple of hours and stopped.  Did a bunch of other stuff and
came back later in the evening and found it no better organized.  I checked
it again on Sunday and was not impressed.  As 6m was not very active, I had
no desire to continue.  I think I had a total of 10 contacts and probably 2
or 3 were not using the proper exchange formats.

I'm so glad it wasn't on Friday as 6m would have been a to disaster and I
might not have gotten the new grids at all.  BTW another one has confirmed
so I'm sitting at 90 until another massive opening.

73's
George - WB5JJJ


4


On Mon, Jun 6, 2022 at 9:11 AM <w5zn at w5zn.org> wrote:

> Thanks for the report, George.
>
> I've never been active in digital contests but hoped this would be a good
> operating event. Hopefully after a couple of runs it will improve and folks
> will become comfortable with it.
>
> 73 Joel W5ZN
>
>
> On 2022-06-04 15:30, WB5JJJ wrote:
>
> Of course I gave today's new ARRL International Digital contest the "ole
> college try", but I found the operation by many operators to be less than
> up to par.  Plus, 6m was not anything like Friday to boot.  Other bands
> were typical.
>
> 1.  Many were not using the proper contest software for the DIGITAL  ONLY
> version of a long-existing DX contest.
> 2.  Some were just typing in "TEST" in the TX6 box and moving on with
> normal digital mode responses, which won't work.
> 3.  It appeared that many were NOT using the NA VHF contest mode, even
> though it sounds counter-productive.  It has the proper information
> exchange for this contest no matter the band according to Joe Taylor
> (WSJTx).
> 4.  And of course, some were not even using the proper contest
> frequencies, instead they were on the main digital frequencies with a
> myriad of formats.  Throwing confusion to the wind must have been their
> motto.
> 5.  And some folks were on the contest frequencies but using regular
> digital modes.
>
> All I can say is, you can lead a horse to water, but ......
>
> A lot of the problems can be traced back to ARRL (sorry guys), but the
> naming of the contest is too similar to others, so a very unique name is
> probably needed.  Publicity was out there, but apparently not read by the
> masses.  It will take a couple of cycles for this to catch on, but maybe
> less than a year apart would help out.  Perhaps a 24 hour weekday version
> every few months to get the message out.
>
> BTW, I did get a few more 6m grids worked on Friday and 4 of them are
> confirmed already.  A few of the rare grid activators don't use LoTW, so I
> don't even mess with them unless they are so strong that it will be an
> easy contact.  I know, I'm a long way off, but I'm down to 91 left, not
> counting the outstanding ones, toward FFMA.
>
> Today 6m was a freeway from New England to the Pacific Northwest.  South
> of that line was very sparse.  Right now, 1630 CDT, it's the NE to SA.
> Again the central USA is being somewhat left out.  Oh well, there's always
> tomorrow.
>
> 73's
> George - WB5JJJ
>
>
> 4
>
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